Weapons

FG42: Ahead Of Its Time And Forgotten

In 1941, the German Luftwaffe, just as the Army, began to see the need to develop a weapon to take the place of the bolt action rifle and the gun. But, whereas the Army sought to develop a new cartridge along with their weapons, the Luftwaffe chose to stay with the standard full-sized 7.92 mm X 57 mm rifle round to meet a requirement for long-range capability and to enable the weapon to act as a light machine gun. What resulted was the most unique and advanced combat arm to see action in the Second World War. And yet, one that few people have ever heard of.

In the beginning, the Luftwaffe wanted a rifle that could be carried by their paratroopers instead of landing separately in containers. Up until then the MP-38/40 submachine guns and pistols were the only small arms their parachute configurations would allow a safe jump with.

The specification, known as LC-6, called for a design that weighed approximately the same as the bolt action K 98, but shorter, to where it was not to exceed 39.4 inches. It was to be select fire, firing single shots from a closed bolt for better accuracy, and open bolt for automatic fire at 900 rpm enabling better cooling. Magazines were to be detachable, holding from 10 to 20 rounds. A scope mount was desired, along with folding front and rear backup iron sights that could be used by sighting underneath the optic. Finally, the weapon needed to be able to fire the full inventory of rifle grenades.

Anyone reading over the specifications could tell it would be a tall order for any manufacturer to achieve, but several did and, even though the road was paved with lots of redesigns and malfunctions, a working weapon emerged ready to be sent down the pipeline. It was type designated FallschirmJaeger Gewehr 42, or FG42. Informally as production improvements were made, the term ‘Model 1’ was added.

The gun looked space-age for its day. Operating by a long stroke piston method, it was 37.2 inches long, and weighed 9.3 pounds empty. It had a large baffled muzzle break attached to the end of the barrel intended to tame recoil, though with automatic fire using a full size cartridge its effect remained marginal at best.

To further help controllability, it incorporated a straight-line layout, meaning the buttstock was level with the bore to help minimize muzzle rise. Atop its receiver was a detachable scope of either the ZFG or ZF-41 series, while attached and riding below the barrel was a folding bipod. Ammunition was fed from the right side in a box magazine and perhaps the most unusual feature of all was its firing grip which was sharply angled like no other weapon during the conflict.

In early 1943, Rhienmettal-Borsig began production of the first 2,000 for combat testing, until another company, Heinrich Kriegoff, took over after Rheinmettal proved incapable of mass production. Paratroopers generally favored the design and used it in its first famous combat action during the glider assault in the mountains at Gran Sasso, Italy to rescue deposed dictator Benito Mussolini from a partisan group. Subsequent photographs show paratroopers carrying the weapon which, strangely, never fired a shot during the action, nor did any other firearm. The next few months saw it deployed in small numbers in Italy, until its most famous battle at Monte Cassino.

From January 17 to May 18, 1944 a group of paratroopers, many of them armed with the FG42, fought a cycle of vicious battles from the ruins of an old monastery atop a hill called Monte Cassino, which overlooked a solitary road which led to Rome. Despite withering battles to dislodge them, the Paratroopers held their ground and only gave it up when ordered to evacuate. The FG42 gave a good account of itself as more new models of the 2nd and 3rd editions arrived, featuring small refinements such as an increase in weight to 10.9 pounds, reduction in cyclic rate to750rpm and a standard shaped grip.

The next widespread use of the FG42 was in the hedgerow battles and fighting retreat from Normandy after the D-Day invasion in June. It remained in combat wherever the dwindling numbers of paratroopers were employed, right up to Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945.

Surrendered examples were looked upon with curiosity by the Allies, who tested them to learn about their salient qualities. The United States for example, made a prototype called the T44 belt-fed light machine gun, and used a few of its features for coming designs, such as the M60. Apart from that, the weapon quickly faded into history, mainly because it was expensive and never intended to fill a requirement beyond the airborne forces. In all, only about 7,000 rolled off the production line.

A special weapon intended for special men, the few in private hands today command a premium of tens of thousands of dollars when they (rarely) come up for sale. Museums hold the handfuls other specimens, giving curious onlookers a glimpse at one of the most remarkable weapons ever made, forever just a footnote in the world of combat arms.

The Heckler & Koch MP7: A Stinger For The Good Guys

In 1989, NATO published a set of requirements that requested a new type of firearm with rounds capable of penetrating body armor. Called the Personal Defense weapon, or PDW, it was meant to replace weapons, such as pistols and submachine guns, whose caliber was found wanting against ballistic protection. Several companies went on to design PDWs, with the most successful, if not the most visible version, coming from German arms company Heckler & Koch.

Designated the MP7, it was first displayed in 1999, with H&K officially beginning production of the weapon in 2000. The MP7 is a compact firearm that uses polymers extensively in its construction, and a short 7.1 inch barrel that helps keep the weight at 4.1 pounds. For ease of carry, a sliding stock provides a length of 25.1 inches extended and 16.3 inches closed. Iron sights for back up compliment mounting rails for sights, lights and lasers, etc., atop the length of the receiver and both sides of the forearm. A front grip that folds under the forearm is also standard.

Internally, its operation is based on the short stroke piston design of the G36 assault rifle, another H&K offering, and helps ensure that the round, which is unique to this weapon, functions reliably. And it is this round which may be the most intriguing part of the MP7.

Featuring a cartridge that measures a diminutive 4.6x30mm, first impressions might lead one to dismiss it as insufficient. Nonetheless, looks can be deceiving, and in this case keep in mind it is meant to defeat body armor. In this role, it is successful.

There are three types of rounds in widespread use. All feature specially designed penetration abilities, which range from the standard DM11, a 31 grain copper plated solid steel AP projectile; the DM21, a 46 grain steel jacketed lead core FMJ round; to the improved DM31 grain copper washed steel jacketed solid steel AP round. These can penetrate several layers of woven Kevlar fabric, with the DM11 traveling at a muzzle velocity of 2,362 fps able to pass through 20 layers backed by a 1.6mm titanium plate at 200 meters.

The cartridge fits in box magazines that come in 20, 30 or 40 round sizes. The 20 round is the same size of a 15 round 9mm magazine and the 40 is the same size of a 30 round 9mm. These insert into the pistol grip of the weapon and are reminiscent of the famous Uzi SMG.

Events after September 11, 2001 sent the MP7 into the field and it became an instant hit. Through the years, numerous worldwide Special Forces and police units adopted it, one of the most famous being the U.S Navy’s DEVGRU, better known as Seal Team 6. The weapon has seen use in Iraq, Afghanistan, and likely numerous classified operations during the War on Terror.

In 2003, H&K improved upon the design and a new version appeared called the MP7A1. This is the variant produced today, and features a redesigned pistol grip, stock and integral trigger safety like those found on Glock pistols.

As of 2014, military and police units of 17 nations employ the MP7 and MP7A1. Without a doubt, it is one of the most popular PDWs in the world today, with its closest competitor being the Fabrique National P90 in 5.7x28mm. FN’s PDW holds the lead in adoptions due in part to a 10 year head start in production. Regardless of this, it is not unreasonable to expect H&K’s weapon to close the gap in the coming years.

The CETME/G3 Battle Rifle

As the world fell apart around them, German industry from aircraft to small arms raced against time to produce something, anything that might permit the Third Reich to last a little longer. Most of these efforts failed miserably, while others were too farfetched to ever become reality.

And yet, in spite of this, there were a few tiny samples of innovation that might have worked if given enough time. Fortunately, for the world and freedom itself, time ran out on one of history’s most evil regimes, and victors exploited the workable technologies to further the goals of their nations.

In the case of small arms one of these of course was the adoption of the German assault rifle concept by the Soviet Union, which arrived in the form of the AK-47. History has shown that this was one area in which the Soviets started out with a lead, as the Western allies still clung to full power cartridge ideas that would see them through the coming decades.

Most of their postwar prototypes bore this out with three battle rifle designs emerging to counter the AK: the FN FAL produced by Belgium’s Fabrique Nationale, proved the most popular; the M14 produced by the Springfield Armory in the United States which had a short career and was overtaken by the M-16; and a Spanish/ German design which became the second most popular design after the FAL and helped represent most of the free world. The CETME/G3.

This rifle that ended up flourishing in post-war conflicts ultimately came about after Mauser technicians during the war designed a prototype assault rifle, called the Gerat 06. Unlike the famous MP44 Sturmgewehr already on the battlefields, the Gerat 06 was designed to be less expensive, just as reliable and easier to produce. As such, one look showed it had none of the smooth curves of the MP44, save for its magazine, which used the same 7.92x33mm intermediate cartridge.

Downright homely to the point of being crude, it used a different operating system, which was taken from the MG42 light machine gun, called short recoil/delayed blowback, but used a fixed barrel with a piston rod similar to the MP44. A further refinement found the rod could be dispensed with and permit using the roller locking bolt alone. After the war, the system, with evolving prototypes, was perfected further by designers Ludwig Vorgrimler and Theodor Loffler until 1950, when Vorgrimler, who by then lived in Spain and worked for the arms manufacturer CETME, finalized a weapon designated the Modelo 2, which used a proprietary 7x92x40mm round.

The design drew the attention of West Germany’s Border Guards, who wanted to equip its forces with the new rifle. One requirement though, was that it be rechambered for the 7.62x51mm round which had been pushed by the U.S. and adopted by NATO. So the CETME was produced with chamber that was identical to the NATO, round but featured another proprietary load, which was later abandoned. Heckler and Koch then got into the act and provided input, further modifying the rifle into the Model B, which featured improved ergonomics, and was at last accepted into service in 1958 by the Spanish Army as the Modelo 1958.

Strangely, at the time it was the only country to adopt the CETME design, for a deal with West Germany’s Border Guards fell through and they ended up adopting the FAL. Thankfully, all was not lost, for the West German Army took interest and held trials pitting the CETME against the American AR-10 and Switzerland’s SiG SG 510. After it won, the CETME was accepted into service and type classified as the Gewehr (rifle), or G3, in January 1959. Upon adoption, H&K and Rheinmettall were tasked with production, but only after they negotiated rights from the Dutch firm NWM, who held production rights outside Spain. Upon concluding this, the G3 began rolling off the assembly lines and filling the stock rooms and soldiers arms of the West German Army.

Proving itself a design of note, many other countries soon took interest in the weapon, testing and adopting it as their standard battle rifle. as well. From 1958 through the 1980s, some 40 countries would outfit their armies with the G3 and, like the FAL, cause it to see combat on every continent.

For western audiences, it could be seen on the evening news in the early 1980s as the weapon of the El Salvadoran military during battles with communist FMLN. and in the Iran-Iraq war as the main rifle of the Iranian army. Currently, the G3 is in use by the Mexican army, battling with drug cartels, where undoubtedly, many a bad guy continues to be ventilated by the G3.

Over its history, the G3’s basic shape has remained unaltered and most improvements have been aesthetic. A true war-winner, only in the 1990s with increased popularity of 5.56mm assault rifles has it seen its numbers dwindle. Even the first nations who claimed it, Spain and Germany, have moved on. Regardless of this, it can be expected that the G3 will still be found patrolling streets, jungles and deserts for many more years to come.

LAW Of The Land

The United States emerged from World War II with the Bazooka as its primary anti-armor and anti-structure weapon. Proven as a true war winner, the series, requiring a firer and a loader, started with the M1, upgraded through the M9 and ended with the M20B1 ‘Super’ during Korea.

The Bazooka’s basic design never changed, and consisted of nothing more than a hollow steel tube of varying diameters into which an electrically fired rocket was inserted at the back. Using a shaped charge, and depending upon the model, this rocket averaged 3 to 4 inches penetration of steel (11 inches with the ‘Super’), and in its day proved easily capable of taking out light and medium tanks, and even a heavy with the right shot placement. Roundly praised by users, the Bazooka provided the necessary punch when confronting hardened targets.

Good as it was though, the Bazooka had its drawbacks, the main ones being that it required a crew to operate and, as new armor designs came down the pike after 1945, its shell design proved less and less effective. Furthermore, by the 1950s ever more emphasis was being placed on mobile warfare, and to continue using a crew operated anti-armor weapon with declining ability was considered a grave drawback.

The Bazooka found itself being phased out in favor of the new recoilless rifle designs that proved more adept at dealing with evolving armor threats. But, like the Bazooka, it also faced the same problems in requiring two men to employ, and was similarly assigned to support weapon platoons, meaning they still had to be called on when faced by armor.

Something else was desired. A weapon that could give the effectiveness of a bazooka or recoilless rifle, but without an unwieldy length and most important, a crew. In other words, a lightweight one-man device capable of being carried fired and disposed of when it discharged its round. Something, ironically, which the Germans had already done 20 years before during wartime with their Panzerfaust.

Solicitations began in the mid 1950s, and in early 1961 the U.S. company Hesse Eastern presented their design combining the best attributes of the bazooka and Panzerfaust. In 1963 after successful trials, it received the designation M72 LAW, or Light Anti-armor Weapon. It was a stubby hollow pair of tubes that carried a round sealed inside, and was meant to be fired once, then destroyed by the user. Its utter simplicity meant that it ushered in another new family of disposable tank killing weapons that ended up being copied by allies and enemies alike in the latter half of the 20th century.

The M72 was 66mm in diameter, and the twin tubes telescoped, meaning one collapsed into the other. Closed, it was 24.8 inches long and provided a watertight seal until it was snapped out to a maximum length of 34.6 inches. Once this was done, the weapon was armed and the watertight seal was broken for good even if the soldier collapsed it again.

For aiming, two sights were provided, one in front raised by the user and one in back that automatically flipped up when the tube extended. The round was a rocket with a High Explosive Antitank warhead (HEAT) that was fired by squeezing a rectangular trigger atop the tube. The rocket motor burned out before it left the launcher, and the round popped fins and sped away at 475 fps. Effective range was 200 meters, with up to 8 inches of penetration against steel targets, 2 feet of concrete or 6 feet of soil was obtained. All this came in a package that weighed a remarkable 5.5 pounds.

Production commenced just before the Vietnam War heated up and it was here that it received its baptism by fire. Needless to say, in the early years of combat, the results varied from excellent to downright ineffective. Excellent when deployed against earthen or reinforced bunkers, and ineffective when first used against enemy armor. Hearing this, the manufacturer made changes to the weapon, increasing its reliability, safety and effectiveness of the round. Designated the M72A2, it proved the upgrades were successful when South Vietnamese troops destroyed several North Vietnamese T-55 tanks during the battle to save the city of An Loc, during the famous Easter Offensive in 1972.

More upgrades followed, mostly incremental, but enough to warrant keeping thousands stocked in the arms rooms of western European allies sharing borders with Warsaw pact nations. Everyone knew that if the Cold War ever turned hot, the primary weapon these countries would face would be the tank, thousands of them in fact, parked no more than a day’s drive or closer. In this regard, the thousands of LAWs assured that every soldier had available access to a tank-killer, one the Russian’s themselves admired enough to copy and churn out numbers for their soldiers, starting with the RPG-18.

The M72 LAW managed to hold the line until production ceased in 1983. By this time, it was clear it no longer could threaten modern battle tanks unless it made a lucky hit. As tens of thousands remained in stockpiles, replacements were sought. In the case of the U.S., they found one in the Swedish AT-4 (M136). Entering service in 1987, it was bigger and heavier, but met the requirements for a next generation disposable anti-armor weapon. With that, the LAW’s end seemed inevitable.

Reality had other plans. Years after the War on Terror began, 2006 to be exact, LAWs reentered service with the U.S. and Canada, not for anti-armor work but as a bunker buster. Cheaper than the AT-4 and at almost 1/3rd the weight, a soldier could also carry two in place of one AT4 with pounds left to spare. And, with a better HEAT round, this latest iteration of the LAW, the M72A7, continues to provide welcome destruction against caves and buildings often used for ambush. So good has it performed in fact that the U.S. Marine Corps placed an order for 7,750 from the company NAMMO-Talley a few years ago and continue carrying them into battle even as this is written.

So, it appears that for the time being, the LAW is destined for a few more years of service.

Stoner 63: Trumpet Of The SEALs

Once Eugene Stoner, designer of the AR-15/M-16 series of combat rifles, left Armalite Corporation in the early 1960s, he decided to design a unique weapons platform that used a common receiver around which a family of small arms could interchange. Such a commonality would enable it to transform into a rifle, carbine or light machine gun without using special tools, and would be inexpensive and simple enough for mass production.

To see the project through, Stoner convinced Cadillac Gage, a U.S. military contractor, to provide financial aid to establish a new small arms development branch of the company. Afterward, he enlisted the aid of his two assistants at Armalite, James Sullivan and Robert Fremont, to help sort out the fine details of the idea beginning to be traced by his drafting pencil.

Throughout the months, the three discussed and disagreed, and drew diagrams to form a new weapon system that would use the standard 7.62×51 mm round used by the M-14. Designated the Stoner Model 69W, the three saw the first handful of prototypes come off the assembly line in 1962. After the first batch of testing started, Stoner’s busy mind suggested that the next version for production should forgo the .30 caliber round in favor of the increasingly popular 5.56x45mm .223 cartridge of his M-16 rifle. The next group incorporated the change and was designated the Stoner 63 with the first ones produced in early 1963. Like the M-16 series, the Stoner used plastics instead of wood when necessary, but unlike the M-16, it used a gas piston instead of the direct impingement method for operation.

An interested party at The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, as it is better known, quickly purchased 25 units in their various configurations for testing. Later that year, the Marine Corps Landing Force Development Center in Quantico, Virginia started their tests, which reflected positively on the design by users who complemented its light weight and ammunition capacity. Still using the M-14 as their primary rifle, the Marines focused on the Stoner 63 in its light machine gun role, and continued testing, which saw the glowing reports dissipate as problems arose.

Chief among these were requirements, some say unrealistic, for the weapon to function with a wide variety of ammunition types with extreme differences in port pressures. These differences in port pressures caused cartridges to jam often. The Stoner 63 wasn’t alone either, because the still-new M-16 was having problems as well, and could not meet the requirements.

After several more months of the trials it was decided that the Stoner 63 was too unreliable for general issue and recommendations were made for improvements. These included ejection port dust covers, modifications to the feed mechanism, a stainless steel gas cylinder, a different fire selector and improved safety. Stoner met these changes and the new weapons produced were given the designation Stoner 63A, which didn’t reach production until 1966. Even so, they were hurriedly deployed to South Vietnam in small numbers, and in some of the most appalling conditions imaginable, the Stoner began to forge a reputation for itself not with the average G.I. or Marine, but with the Navy SEALs who used the preferred version, the LMG, to deadly efficiency.

Using box or drum magazines, carrying 100 to 150 linked rounds respectively, the Stoner 63 rattled along at a 700 rpm cyclic rate, providing valuable fire support to the small teams plying the swamps and jungles of the Mekong Delta when engaging enemy forces at close range. Excellent at fighting through ambushes or breaking contact, the gun was an immediate hit and desirable alternative to the other U.S. weapon used for such roles, the M-60. The Stoner 63A weighed much less than the M60, which required belts of ammunition to be slung over shoulders because it did not have a magazine. The M-60 was larger than the Stoner 63A and unwieldy for the types of operations SEALs performed. More impressive was its reliability, the question mark that always dogged the Stoner 63 series. Reliability remained good due to constant maintenance by the scrupulous SEALs, who made the Stoner as much a staple of their outfits as the green greasepaint they covered their faces with.

Sadly though, for its designer, this remained the Stoner 63’s only success, because, as good as reports were for the weapon in Vietnam, Eugene Stoner could not find anyone to produce the weapon. Cadillac Gage had shelved further plans beyond producing a few thousand, and the rights to make the weapon were shopped worldwide falling on deaf ears. Eventually, NWM, a weapons company in the Netherlands, agreed to acquire all licensing rights, but the deal collapsed when they were unable to secure export customers.

One last attempt to get widespread adoption in the U.S. came in 1970, when the U.S. Army issued the different variants to its Special Forces units for trials. The results were hardly encouraging, as the Green Berets found the weapons complex and fraught with pesky reliability problems. This ended Stoner’s dream of a common weapons system and, the M63 all but disappeared, except with the SEALs, whose affinity with the LMG version continued on when they used it in the 1983 Grenada invasion, and up until the late 1980s, when the Mk23 Mod 0, as it was designated, was finally withdrawn. Much though they loved it, the SEALs knew it was bastard child that found its only home and legacy among the ‘Green Faces’ who carried it with pride against the enemies of freedom.

‘Swedish K’: The Unsung Friend Of American Special Forces In Vietnam

The 9mm Carl Gustav M/45 submachine gun occupies a unique place in United States Special Forces history for, during the Vietnam War, it was often chosen over the then troublesome M-16 series by members looking for a reliable, controllable and reasonably accurate weapon at short ranges. Once they fired it, the new owners found the ‘Swedish K,’ as it was to become known, a perfect weapon for close quarters combat. More specifically, Navy SEALs preferred it for its ability to keep functioning in sandy conditions when conducting over-the-beach operations. And as the war surged on, the gun became an almost required piece of gear for those long hikes in the jungle or traipsing through muddy swamps in journeys that tested every piece of gear’s reliability.

Before it met its fame in Vietnam however, the ‘Swedish K’ found itself on a drawing board in a country neutral from World War II’s devastating effects, but not its weapons. Here is when arms designer Gunnar Johnsson studied the most popular submachine guns of the conflict and tried incorporate the best qualities of each. For example, he found the salient feature of all these weapons were in the methods used to produce them. Stamped sheet metal had turned out millions of German MP 40s, British STENs, and Soviet PPsh 41s. It was a method that allowed cheap and rapid manufacture, but maintained the reliability, accuracy and effectiveness once considered possible only with exquisitely made prewar designs such as the U.S Thompson, or early German models.

Johnsson toiled through 1944 to produce a working prototype while under employment at the Carl Gustav arms factory. In 1945, his design won a competition that featured only one other competitor. It received the official designation Carl Gustav M/45 and was quickly put in production for the Swedish Armed Forces, and offered for sale on the international arms market.

Weighing 7.3 pounds and over 9 pounds loaded, the gun was a bit on the heavy side, but typical of weapons from that era. It featured a folding stock, which shortened the length of the weapon from 31 to 21 inches. It operated by simple blowback principle, which allowed it to chug at a controllable cyclic rate of 600 rpm. Its most important feature may have been its ammunition capacity. The Swedish K featured a 36-round detachable magazine, more than most available at the time, that was double-stacked and proved far more reliable than the wartime single-stack types.

As it began to be sold and licensed abroad throughout the 50s and 60s, the Swedish K found its destiny not in the hands of its mother country, but in the hands of a country that never adopted it…the United States. This came about because the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy special operation communities, as well as the CIA, quickly warmed to its ruggedness and effectiveness. Several ended up being taken overseas to Vietnam as the preferred weapon because it simply kept working in a combat environment where reliability was proving more important than accuracy. They needed it, for the issue M-16 was proving disastrous and, apart from the Russian AK-47, reliable weapons for Special or clandestine units would be in short supply until the M-16’s problems were resolved.

These units put the little subgun on the way to stardom when they began engaging Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers along the nameless trails and backwaters where the guns slow bark sang in response to the throaty crack of the more powerful AK. More often than not, the Swedish K emerged victorious, not because it was better, but because the men using it were. Despite this, it may have gotten its best advertising not in the jungle but in the city of all places, by a future Medal of Honor recipient who found it invaluable when assaulting buildings.

During the opening of the Tet offensive on January 31, 1968, two Viet Cong battalions successfully seized the provincial capital of Chau Phu, shattering defenses and cutting off several small South Vietnamese Army units at different locations. At the time, a U.S. Army Green Beret, Staff Sergeant Drew Dix, was serving as an advisor nearby and learned of individuals, including an American nurse, trapped in house near the city center. Unslinging his ‘Swedish K’ and stuffing pouches full of magazines, Sgt. Dix organized a relief force and set off for the house. He rescued the nurse and several others, then went to a different location known to hold prisoners, which was under small arms and mortar fire. Approaching the building, he was subjected to heavy automatic weapons fire and personally assaulted it, killing six Viet Cong with his SMG and rescuing two Filipinos in the process.

On the following day, he assembled and led another relief force which attacked a hotel, theater and other adjacent buildings where he not only killed several more, but captured 20 prisoners. Not done, he moved on to the Deputy Province Chief’s residence where he rescued the official’s wife and children, plus captured 20 more enemy. In all, he was responsible for killing 14 Vietcong and possibly 25 more, capturing 40 prisoners and rescuing 24 civilians. In the end, every bit of it was done with his trusty SMG roaring.

The pale blue ribbon was placed around Dix in a White House ceremony on January 19,1969 by President Lyndon Johnson as one of his last official acts as Commander in Chief.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in the bitter sands of the Middle East, the gun marched into battle alongside the AK-47 under the designation Port Said and a simpler version called the Akaba, both of which were being produced under license by Egypt. Despite the dry climate and just like in Vietnam, the Swedish K chorused with the AK, proving itself worthy of more than a passing mention.

But it was not to be. The late 60s and early 70s were a time of legends, and from the two great superpowers came the M-16 and AK-47. Both assault rifles, it was a type which sounded the death knell for the SMG except for use in increasingly small numbers by Special Forces.

So it was that, in a few years, Gunnar Johnsson’s creation faded from the scene as better weapons replaced it, only to be fondly recalled by those few privileged to have carried it into battle and witness it save the day.